Check out Chris and Penny discussing everything from the David Bowie to animal rights and their partnership over the past 40 years on the most recent episode of Pure Nonfiction hosted by Thom Powers. The interview was recorded in May at the Montclair Film Festival’s Audible Lounge before a live audience. Listen to the podcast […]

“They used to bark at me when I walked into the courtroom” says renowned animal rights attorney Steven Wise. After 30 years of preparation, Steve and his legal team, the Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP), are making history by filing the first lawsuits to transform an animal from a thing with no rights to a person with legal protections.

Unlocking the Cage documents Steve’s unprecedented legal challenge to break down the wall that separates animals from humans. Steve argues that based on scientific evidence cognitively complex animals such as chimpanzees, whales, dolphins, and elephants have the capacity for fundamental personhood rights (such as bodily liberty) that would protect them from physical abuse. For the past two years, we have followed Steve and his team on their journey, from developing their legal strategy to discovering the perfect chimpanzee plaintiffs confined in private homes and roadside zoos. Read On

My friendship with Al was forged during four months of filming together, just the two of us, in Russia in 1959. When he got a camera against his eye, he was one of the world’s great watchers, and I knew we would always be filmmaking companions. – D A Pennebaker “Albert Maysles, […]

As part of Hot Docs 2018 – Special Events & Big Ideas Series, The War Room will screen on Sunday April 29th at 3:45pm at the Isabel Bader Theatre.